Revenge Cycle

Revenge Cycle
Revenge has the definition of taking vengeance for injuries or wrongs; retaliation. In the Hamlet, the main theme is that when people follow plans of revenge, it leads to tragedy. Throughout the play, several different people want to take revenge on somebody. Hamlet is a main character who is being asked to take revenge on his uncle to fulfill his duty as a son. Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a revenge tragedy because Laertes and Fortinbras and Hamlet seek to avenge a family death, in most cases the death of their father and in all but one case leads to their own tragic death. Hamlet’s revenge for his father leads to his own death at the end. Hamlet’s father, the old king Hamlet appeared in the form of the ghost in the beginning of the play. The ghost told Hamlet that his father had been killed by the current king who is the uncle of Hamlet, the current husband of Hamlet’s mother. Believe it or not every ghost in the world can only have the same action, revenge. “You can never know with certainty which ghost is addressing whom. It is one and the same thing for Hamlet to question his own identity and to question the ghost’s identity, and his authority” (Girard 3). The prince of Denmark, Hamlet, wants to avenge the current King of Denmark, his uncle, who killed Hamlet’s father, the old King, in order to take the crown and marry Hamlet’s mother. When trying to revenge his father by killing his Uncle, Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, the father of Hamlet’s friend Laertes and his beloved Ophelia.
In the process of revenging his father, Hamlet in some way caused the death of many innocent people. “Hamlet, again, is less remorseful about killing Polonius than annoyed with Polonius for not being Claudius, and seems genuinely bewildered that Laertes should be hostile to him”(Frye 3). With the tragic loss of her father, as well as her recent messiness of her relationship with Hamlet, Ophelia becomes insane and committed suicide by drowning herself. Now, Laertes wants revenge for his father and sister during a fencing game by poisoning the tip of the sword. If that does not work, King Claudius will have a glass of wine with poison in it that Hamlet would drink from. “Laertes goes mad in a different fashion and becomes the model of the kind of revenger that Hamlet so disdains” (Rose 5). Laertes kills Hamlet successfully but Hamlet’s mother dies accidentally by drinking the poisoned wine. “The drink, the drink. Oh, I’m poisoned” (5.2 45-52). And Hamlet finally fulfills the ghost’s quest and killed Claudius, the murderer of his father. Hamlet himself dies at the end. There is still a son seeking revenge for his father that we might forget. The young Fortinbras of Norway is secretly planning to invade Denmark.
The tragedy that the old king caused was when he killed Old Norway in during the war. Denmark and Norway has been in war when old Hamlet is still alive, the old king killed old Fortinbras and took over some of Norway’s land. “The old Hamlet, the murderer himself, in the various sources of the play there may be indications to that essect, but Shakespeare would have omitted them if he had wanted to strengthen the case for revenge”. (Girard 3) Young Fortinbras is seeking revenge for his father’s death and the loss of his country. By the time the army of Norway arrives Denmark, everyone in the palace dies except Horatio. Young Fortinbras becomes the king of Denmark and fulfills his duty to avenge his father’s death as well. Although all the revengers took their action of seeking vengeance for their father, the only difference is that both Laertes and Young Fortinbras is that Hamlet didn’t take revenge when he had chance. Instead, he waited and waited and losing his better chances to kill Claudius.
Hamlet is a revenge tragedy, but let’s rather calls it a revenge cycle. Polonius, murdered by Hamlet by accident and avenged by his son. Hamlet’s father, murdered by King Claudius and avenged by his son as well. This comes again in the story of the old Fortinbras and the young Frotinbras of Norway, the father slain by Hamlet’s father during the war. The son achieved a successful revenge by taking the throne of Denmark. Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a revenge tragedy because most of the characters in the play try to seek revenge on someone and leads to all the deaths except one case.

Works Cited Frye, Northrop. Modern Critical Views: William Shakespeare, The Tragedies. New York: Chelsea House Publisher, 1985. Print.
Girard, Rene. “Hamlet as a Revenge Tragedy” Gale. 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web.
19 Jan. 2011. Rose, Mark. “Hamlet and the Shape of Revenge.” English Literary Renaissance 1.2 (Spring 1971): 132-143. Rpt. In Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 68. Gale. 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 Jan. 2011.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. New York: Washington
Square Press, 1992. Print.

Cited: Frye, Northrop. Modern Critical Views: William Shakespeare, The Tragedies. New York: Chelsea House Publisher, 1985. Print. Girard, Rene. “Hamlet as a Revenge Tragedy” Gale. 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. Rose, Mark. “Hamlet and the Shape of Revenge.” English Literary Renaissance 1.2 (Spring 1971): 132-143. Rpt. In Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 68. Gale. 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. New York: Washington Square Press, 1992. Print.